Homily For Tuesday Sixth Week of Easter Year C, 27th May, 2025. Children’s Day

 

Readings: Acts 16:22-34; Ps.138;  John 16:5-11

Rev  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE WORLD

As Jesus continues with his teaching on the Person of the Holy Spirit, whom he called the Counsellor, Jesus said to his disciples in our Gospel passage, ‘I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement.’

The focal point here is the role of the Holy Spirit in the world. This is because Jesus knows that with the rejection of his teaching by the people of the world, the disciples need an advocate who will surely prove to the world how wrong they are in rejecting and killing him. 

Hence, What seemed like abandonment to the disciples brought about the message of hope, assuring them that the Holy Spirit would show the world how wrong she was about sin and about judgment. That is, the Spirit will convict and persuade the people of the world of their sinful condition which they hold so tight because they were wrong for not believing in Jesus. 

Thus the Holy Spirit will clearly show to the world the righteousness of Jesus and his claims to come from God in order to bring the Word of God anew to the world. The Holy Spirit will reveal the meaning of Christ’s death as the condemnation of all that is evil in the world and victory over the devil, the prince of this world. This is so evident in our first reading, where we heard about the victory of Paul and Silas, who were praying and singing God’s praises in the prison when the prison doors were opened. 

Dear friends, as we struggle with the ugly situation in the world, we are reminded that the Holy Spirit dwells in us as our Counsellor, all we need to do is to turn towards him with hope and courage, knowing that God has called us to be his people and he will always be faithful to his promises. And if we trust in him, we shall not be disappointed, for in him alone is our sure hope of assistance during this difficult moment of our lives. 

Therefore, let us open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and let him be the source of hope, light and inspiration for us especially in this difficult moment of fears of uncertainties in our hearts and minds, which have enslaved and prevented us from realizing what our lives truly mean and what we represent in this world. 

Let us know that God has not and will not abandon us in the ugly situation we have found ourselves in this passing world, for he has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit, whose work is to ensure our victory and prove to this sinful world how wrong they are in rejecting and persecuting Jesus and the work of redemption which he has established.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, the ugly situation in our world is really shaking the faith of your children; grant, we pray that we may always find delight in the indwelling of your Holy Spirit and so courageously conquer our fears and worries just like Paul and Silas. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. HAPPY CHILDREN’S YOU. May God bless and favour all our children.

Homily For Monday Sixth Week of Easter Year C, 26th May, 2025. The Memorial of St Philip Neri

 

Readings: Acts 16:11-15; Ps.149;  John 15:26-16:4

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE US TO THE PATHS OF TRUTH

In our societies today, many false influential powers have great effect on our lives coming from various sources under the guise of good but are, in fact, leading us astray. 

So, there is a need for us to examine these influences and today, in our Gospel passage, Jesus said to his disciples: when the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will be my witness. And you, too, will be witnesses because you have been with me from the outset. ‘I have told you all this that your faith may not be shaken.

Thus, the Holy Spirit will lead us to learn how to distinguish clearly where and in whom dwells the Spirit of truth from the Spirit of falsehood. As long as we are of God and in Christ, we have nothing to fear for we do not belong any more to this present world, full of sin, hatred, greed, corruption, deceit and violence. 

Every day, many false prophets and teachers are increasing and deceiving the people. May God guide us against embracing, too readily, any doctrine proposed to us without due consideration from any teacher who may pretend to have a divine inspiration but does not.

Dear friends, we must be very wise for many false prophets are operating under the power of the devil. Today Jesus is promising us the Spirit of truth that will give us a special sign for distinguishing true doctrine and true teachers from the false ones. 

Therefore, let us constantly ask the Holy Spirit to give us the grace of discernment in order to distinguish between good and false prophets and teachers. Let us also be true Christians in our way of life, words and deeds. Let us learn to put our trust in God who has promised to keep us from falling away from the true faith we have found in His Son Jesus.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, you promised to send us the Spirit of truth, grant we pray that through the intercession of St Philip Neri, we will always stand and witness to the truth we have found in Jesus against all the false influential prophets and teachers in our society today, he who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. Have a fruitful week.

Homily For Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C, 25th May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts. 15:1-2.22-29; Ps.67; Rev. 21:10-14.22-23; John 14:23-29

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE PEACE THE WORLD CAN NOT GIVE IS THE GIFT THE LORD HAS GIVEN TO US

As we gather together today to celebrate the sixth Sunday of the Holy season of Easter, with the Solemnity of the Ascension coming up on Thursday within the week, our attention is being drawn more to the departure of Jesus, who has been with his disciples.

So, in anticipation of the Solemnity of the Pentecost coming very soon, the readings of today draw our attention to the last and very important words of departure from Jesus to his disciples.

These departing words can be summarized in two words which are Love and peace. This, of course, followed the promise of the Holy Spirit,t who will teach and remind us of everything he has taught us.

This promise is very necessary because the time for Jesus to accomplish his mission had drawn near, and he had taught his disciples a lot of things which they had not yet fully understood, and there was more to teach them.

So, as Jesus continues to teach the disciples he promised them the indwelling of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will take up the task to inspire them and deepen their understanding of the words and actions of God the Father.

However, Jesus emphasized that the condition for obtaining all that he has promised is the love we express to God and our neighbours and for this reason, he offers us his peace when he said in our Gospel passage today: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”

Here, the word Peace from the Hebrew word shalom means more than an absence of conflict or disturbance or war. Rather, it signifies a state of complete integration of unity between God and Man, between man and neighbours, and also between man and his environment.

It thus implies everything that Jesus came to achieve in this world. It is the legacy of his life, death and resurrection. Little wonder these words of Jesus are repeated at every Eucharistic celebration, where Jesus offers us his peace again and again.

There is no doubt that this peace is really lacking in our societies today. This is clear with the ugly events we hear and experience daily, especially the cases of killings, hatred, betrayals, greed, social and economic injustice, bloodshed, kidnapping, banditry and the massacre of innocent people all over the globe.

This, of course, is a clear sign that humanity has lost peace, that great treasure which she enjoys in the presence of God before the fall of man. But how can we regain this great treasure? Jesus made it clear that love is the only way to obtain this peace

Hence, he talks about the sacrificial love that comes from the heart and soul of one who is rooted in the life of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus speaks about the power of love, that life-giving passion that transforms and unites us with God and our neighbours.

It is this love that brings the peace that humanity is seeking, as demonstrated in our first reading among the apostles and also prophesied in our second reading today, pointing towards the Holy City of Jerusalem and its future glory as the home of peace.

But the questions we need to ask ourselves are: Have we really embraced love to have peace in our lives? Do we experience this love and peace at the Eucharistic banquet every time we participate in the Holy Mass? Have I embraced the sacrificial love of Jesus so as to become an instrument of peace to my neighbour, my family and the society at large?

Have I embraced love to the point of sacrificing my possessions, my ambition and my life for the sake of peace? Have I sacrificially embraced love so as to forgive those who offended me and seek reconciliation for the sake of peace?

Dear friends, today we are called to come back to the source of love, God himself, who teaches us that love is an attitude that seeks the good of others despite how we feel about them. For love teaches us to be merciful, just as our Father in heaven is merciful.

Love is a sacrificial attitude, an attitude that forgives, an attitude that accommodates, perseveres, preserves, heals and builds up when everything has failed This is the kind of attitude the world needs now, the attitude that comes from pure love of God and our neighbours and brings peace to our lives, our families, societies and the world at large.

LET US PRAY: Almighty ever-living God, there are lots of things we need to know and understand about the faith we have found in you, may the Holy Spirt guide our way to embrace love and peace and always teach us what to do, how to do it, when to do it and grace do it properly. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. It's Sunday, may the Holy Spirit guide and bless all your efforts.

Homily For Saturday Fifth Week of Easter Year C, 24th May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts 16:1-10; Ps.100; John 15:18-21

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

WHY DID THE WORLD HATE CHRISTIANS?

The word ‘Hate’ is often used to express a negative feeling towards something or someone who we presumed to pose some threat to us or something related to us. Meanwhile, hatred, as we know, is the direct opposite of love. There is no doubt that threat breeds fear, insecurity and anger, which brings about the negative feeling we call hatred.

This definition is very important in order to understand the teaching of Jesus in our Gospel passage today when he said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Here, Jesus, who has been talking to his disciples about love and commanding them to love one another, is today warning and telling them that there is no guarantee that they will be loved in return by the people of the world. He used himself as an example of how they may be treated, that if the world hated and persecuted him so badly, his disciples should expect to be treated the same way. But why did the worldly-minded people hate and persecute Jesus and his disciples?

This is because the presence and words of Jesus bring great light and judgment to the darkness of this world, and the people of the world love darkness rather than the Light since their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

So the presence of Jesus, the light of the world, threatens the people of the world, and this breeds fear, insecurity and anger, which brings about negative feelings of hatred for Jesus and those who associate with him.

More so, it is important to note that, when Jesus talks about the “world” as we have it in the Gospel passage, he is not referring to the physical world but the people who are so attached to the things of this world. People who have made the things of this passing world their God and have come to trust in their ability to exploit others and acquire the earth as their own.

They try very hard to cover their sin and silence the voice of conscience accusing them of their sins. But here are Christians constantly reminding them of their sins as they strive to live a life of holiness, which, of course, stirs up again all those thoughts and feelings of guilt which they wished to silence. Hence, this threat breeds fear, insecurity and anger that gives birth to hatred of Christians by worldly-minded people.

Dear friends, today we are called to bear witness even in the face of hatred and hostility. Despite the world’s hatred, we should never respond with retaliation or hatred. Yes, there may be times to ask God to judge the wicked.

There may be times to shake the dust off our feet and move on; of course, we have to, knowing that we can do so through the Spirit of truth dwelling in us. For through our Baptism, we have received the Holy Spirit in us, which helps us strive to live a life of love and righteousness even in the midst of persecutions and hatred.

LET US PRAY: Almighty and eternal God, who through the regenerating power of Baptism have been pleased to confer on us the heavenly life, grant us, we pray, the grace to bear authentic witness of your love and peace in the world full of hatred and strive. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a lovely and peaceful weekend.

Homily For Friday Fifth Week of Easter Year C, 23rd May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts 15:22-31; Ps.57; John 15:12-17

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

Love is a gift from God to mankind, it is like the stream water, so innocent and pure. True love is not hidden; it radiates from the innermost being of a person who experiences it. Most of the problems in our families, societies and the world at large can be traced to one major challenge, which is the absence of sincere love for one another, as most families today exist by grace and not by love. Imagine how wonderful the world would have been if we all loved one another.

Little wonder, Jesus, knowing how important love is for the well-being of humanity, made it the centre of all his teachings. He presents the love of God and the love of neighbour as the summary of all the commandments. And in our Gospel passage today, he says: “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you.”

So, as Jesus continues his teaching on love, today we heard more about the commandments of loving one another. There is no doubt that we all have experienced God’s love and favour in one way or another. God has done so much for us, giving us everything that we need, and He has shown us all this wonderful love so that we, too, may know what it truly means to love.

Today, Jesus is commanding us to also love one another in the same way that God has loved us, and this is exemplified by the Apostles in the decision they made concerning how the gentile believers should be treated as we have it in our first reading today.

Dear friends, love is what the Lord has offered us, love is what he is commanding us to offer one another. I know that it is not easy to bear the sacrificial nature of love, but that is what the world needs now. So let us be genuine with our actions and love towards one another.

Let us not just think about ourselves and our selfish desires, but consider the needs of others. Loving one another requires sacrifice, sacrifice of our comfort, resources, talent, gifts and pride. Loving one another requires forgiveness, mercy, care and humility.

How I wish that humanity could invest the amount of energy, time and resources used in producing heavy personnel and ammunitions of war into ensuring love and unity in our dealings with one another, believe me, we will not only be fulfilling the first and greatest commandments of God, but we will be building a happy family, a peaceful community and one united humanity build on love.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we make efforts to love one another, grant us the grace to experience true love in our lives, families, communities and the world at large. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed day.

Homily for Thursday, Fifth Week of Easter Year C, 22nd May, 2025

Readings: Acts 15:7-21; Ps.96;  John 15:9-11

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

AS THE FATHER HAS LOVED ME, SO HAVE I LOVED YOU ABIDE IN MY LOVE

The word “love” means a lot of things to different people. For some, love is one of the common words we use to express our deep feelings of affection for someone or something. But the fact remains that love is much more than that, why? Because it is something greater than the nature of the human person. 

For me, Love is God’s nature, which He shares with His creatures. It is that nature of God which we share with one another. Love is beyond human nature. When we love, we are actually acting out that very nature of God in us and this can be overwhelming and mysterious because it is the nature of God that we share. 

Therefore, love is God's greatest gift to humanity. A gift that shows how much He loves us by sending His Son, whose life-giving sacrifice means salvation for the world. So, the love that Jesus has for us is nothing less than the Divine love that unites the Persons of the Trinity, and Jesus presented this love as life that must continue among his disciples. 

That is why in our Gospel passage today, he said to his disciples: ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 

Dear friends, let us keep the Lord’s commandments, let us embrace Jesus and the love he is offering us. Let us serve the Lord and his Church faithfully by spreading his love everywhere we find ourselves. The truth is that it actually feels right and awesome to experience and share the love of God. 

I don’t know if you have ever loved someone and you show it, or someone loves you and shows it? Or somebody loves you and you know it, it is something great and awesome, because love brings life, healing and wholeness into people’s lives. Thus, it is by loving God in our neighbours that we can share and experience this nature of God in us and by so doing, we will conquer the world full of hatred, self-centeredness, greed and sin.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we listened to your words today, may we resolve to keep your commandments and remain in your love. Help us to spread your love to the world and by so doing conquer the hatred, self-centeredness, greed and sin rooted in our families, societies and the world at large. Amen. Have a favourable day.

Homily for Wednesday in Fifth Week of Easter Year C, 21st May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts 15:1-6; Ps.122; John 15:1-8

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

DO NOT BE SEPARATED FROM JESUS THE TRUE VINE

Since Sunday, we have been listening to Jesus’ instructions to his disciples, especially as regards the relationship between him and those who wish to be his disciples. To drive this message down to the level they will understand him, he used the imagery of a Vine and branches.

The vine, as we know,, is the source of life for the branches. It provides the water and nutrients by which the grapes are produced. Without the vine, no fruit could ever be produced. And branches utterly dependent upon the vine.

So as Jesus and his disciples were passing through the vineyards that surround the city after they had concluded their meeting in the upper room in Jerusalem where they celebrated the Passover, Jesus told them the parable of the Vine and the branches as we have it in our Gospel passage today saying: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me, you can do nothing.’

Here, Jesus is emphasising the need to remain faithful in our relationship with God, as we know in the scriptures, Israel is pictured as a vine which is to produce good fruit. But has failed. Thus, Jesus made them know that he is the true, genuine and authentic Vine. But in the Old Testament, God’s vine was Israel. He used them to accomplish his purpose in the world. However, he is the true Vine through whom we have life in us.

So, the major purpose of this parable is for us to remain faithful in our relationship with God and also to be fruitful in our Christian faith. Because as God’s chosen people, we are expected to produce great, sweet, beautiful, rich fruits of righteousness, holiness, justice, peace and joy to the world. But most of us, just like the Israelites, have failed as we produced sour, rotten, stinking, tasteless fruit of sin, corruption, greed, cruelty, exploitation and hatred in the world.

Dear friends, as branches of the Vine which is Christ, our fruit should be the natural outflow of the life of the Vine. For when we are united and identified with Jesus, we produce from his Vine the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that sweet and rich wine of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, self-control, holiness, courage and faith which is lacking in our world today.

But the questions we need to ask ourselves today are: are we still connected with Jesus, the true Vine? What kind of fruit are we producing in this world? What is stopping us from producing good fruit? Do we need to be purged of our ugly habitual sins? Remember, God prunes a branch so that it may bear more fruit, and this pruning is not done only once, for it is a constant process.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we are so much attached to so many things in this passing world, as we find delight in Jesus our true Vine, prune us where we need to be pruned, so that we may remain faithful in our relationship with you and so bear good fruit of your love and peace in our families, societies and the world at large. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do remain blessed.